


when the party is over

by andsmile, monicaposh



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Canon Compliant, F/M, Varchie!Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 11:00:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18871855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andsmile/pseuds/andsmile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/monicaposh/pseuds/monicaposh
Summary: After surviving the night, Archie and Veronica reunite. Little smut-shot based on the events of the season 3 finale.





	when the party is over

_i believe in anything_   
_that brings you back home to me_

::  
::

 

“Archiekins?” Veronica asks, in a soft spoken tone, almost shyly. 

His heart swells at the nickname. He remembers the first time she ever called him that, less than a week after they met, in the football field, her cheerleader outfit accentuating all the right places. Remembers cringing when Cheryl called him the same, remembers thinking it wasn’t _right_. It was _just hers_. All of it happened roughly two years ago, but after this year, it feels like a lifetime ago. He’s missed her calling him that. The fear of never hearing it roll off her sweet tongue again was something he couldn't bear.

He looks up, head heavy and whole body aching, but seeing her makes him feel so light. Just like last night when he was beaten and bloodied, the only light in his peripheral was her. Keeping him going like always.

And now she's smiling softly. At him. One more thing he thought would never happen again, until it did.

She stands beside Betty and Jughead under the fluorescent lights in the waiting room at Riverdale General Hospital. They arrived to make sure the girls were in the clear, while Veronica insisted a doctor look over his battle wounds.

They stayed together through each examination, hands entwined, decidedly not letting go.

Thankfully, they're all ok. They survived the night and this crazy year.

All Archie knows is he’ll survive anything now, as long as he has _his Ronnie._

He feels foolish now, for thinking he would ever be able to make it without her. The heart crushing sadness he felt the other night when he saw Reggie at the Pembrooke doesn't even come close to the feeling of watching her drink that poison, every drop potentially deadly as he looked on in horror.

The thought of losing her, _really losing her_ , struck something deep within his soul. Something that pierced through layers and layers of wounds and boxing and Josie and music and alcohol, the thick skin he had to build so he could _go on_ , reawakening the depth of his love for her.

Not that it was ever really dormant.

_Archiekins_ , she says, and the past couple of months come rushing back. Everything feels like it did before, with Veronica, when things were so new for them. When they were away from each other, doing their thing, it was easy to pretend. It felt like they were forever paralleling each other, two straight lines never meant to meet again. She had Reggie; he had Josie. She had La Bonne Nuit; he had El Royale. She had her family torn apart; he had his skin ripped off.

He really did think it was safe, to be near her again. They were friends, now. Two parallel lines. He repeated that over and over, to himself, kind of like he did when he first met her, after that night in September, after breaking Betty’s heart. They were friends, just friends; she didn’t want him.

But he wanted her, then, too. He had always wanted her. He didn’t even know what it was like to be someone who didn’t want her. She sat next to him on his couch and reminded him that she was the only person who truly believed in him, and   She looked at him, and suddenly he couldn’t stop himself, couldn’t shove it down.

Boxing, Josie, music, alcohol.

It all came down to Veronica.

It all came down to them being back at Thornhill, dressed up and playing a twisted version of the game that fatefully brought them together, catapulting him back to the beginning.

He knew then that she was everything he could ever want.

And he's known everyday since.

When he said what he had to say, she looked up at him with her big, tender eyes, just like she did the first time, and said the words he feared he'd never hear again.

_I love you, Archiekins._

He held her face, bloodied fingers on porcelain, staring into the eyes he's loved since the first moment they locked with his. He probably could have died right there, and it wouldn’t matter, knowing that she felt the same. But, at the same time, he wanted to be alive. He wanted to be _really_ alive again, alive like when they were running around his house last year, his heart beating fast from _love_ and not just adrenaline. He wanted to live and to _live with her_ , to experience her, again and again.

 

 

 

 

The front desk clerk of the emergency room offered to call them cabs, seeing the distress of the four teens as they waited for each other to be checked out. Veronica instructs that there will be one stop. At the Pembrooke.

She scoots across the cracked leather bench, leaning into Archie as he rubs her back soothingly. All night they’ve shared these seemingly normal touches, something that became habitual for them as a couple. But now, it’s new again.

They find themselves dropped off in front of the luxury apartment building. The sun is beating down on them overhead, still too early to draw attention to their gruesome looking formal wear.

He walks her to the residential entrance, ensuring she gets inside before walking home.

“I just wanted to make sure you got home safe, Ronnie,” he says, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Maybe he’s gotten used to it, to feeling unsettled when they’re alone, trying to avoid missteps.

But then, like time around them, his nerves cease at a simple touch from her hand. She delicately wraps her fingers around his wrist, and he searches her precious face for any type of sign.

But he gets distracted, studying every single detail that makes her so beautiful, and he's as marveled by her as he's always been.

“Will you stay with me?” She breathes out, vulnerability shining in her big brown eyes. Of course, she’s scared. How could she not be? He is, too.

Archie cups her face again, nodding as he places a kiss to her forehead, lingering just to breathe her in.

They walk through the elevator, and he pulls her close to him. Wrapping his arms securely around her frame, he holds her as she nestles into his neck. He holds her like he did all through the night, back in the woods, planning to never let her go again.

 

 

 

 

Veronica reaches into her clutch, shaking slightly as she turns the brass key in the lock. Her heart is beating wildly, the same pace as when they sprinted for their lives through Fox Forest. 

Archie rests a hand at the small of her back, sending little shocks up her spine. His touch always had overwhelming power over her. It could calm her down or turn her into liquid fire in a matter of seconds, melting between his fingers, helplessly bringing her to her knees.

It’s reassuring now. It’s not too much.

It’s always too much.

They make their way through the threshold, and she has another sense of déjà vu as his hand wraps around her waist. She remembers the night they cemented their relationship, proclaiming themselves each other's soulmate and coming together as one.

How she longed for it, for _him_ , in her house. In her life. Sitting at the breakfast table, confused as she spoke in Spanish with her parents; naked and warm in the living room, cuddling her in front of a fireplace, his heart bursting with everything he could never hold down. She missed him and being _here_ with him _,_ even though it's different now.

She looks at him, as they walk to her bedroom and is met with a bashful smile. And that blush. The redness on his cheeks that always meant, _I’m going to give you everything you’ve ever wanted._

A home, a family, _love._

_Some things are still the same._

She drops her purse on the dresser as she observes him, fidgeting slightly in the doorway. They haven't been alone in her room in so long, and while she feels safe, she also feels a little shy. A little afraid that she’ll wake up at any minute to find out that _no_ , this isn’t happening. That he isn’t back, that he isn’t here.

That he’ll want to _leave_.

A thought crosses her mind as she observes him discard his blazer on her dresser. “Don’t you want to go home? Your mom must be worried about you,” she asks. She doesn’t want to give Mary any reasons to hate her. It’s a miracle that she doesn’t -- even after everything Veronica’s father put Archie through.

“Oh,” he blinks, confused with her question for a moment. “It’s okay. She’s been… _nicer_ , lately.”

His blush deepens amidst the patches of dried blood on his cheeks, signaling that there’s more he wants to say. Veronica can’t help but kink an eyebrow. Archie brings a hand to the back of his neck, scratching it like he’s just a boy. Not a man who tried to save her life a couple of hours ago.

“My mom thinks we're _endgame_.”

She feels her own flush rising, dropping eye contact as she starts nervously removing her jewelry. That word is somewhat triggering to her now, after screaming it to her father to show that nothing would keep her and Archie apart even though that was a broken promise. After crying to Archie as she heard him sobbing through the phone, desperately trying to hold onto anything that would make him stay. After having to shut Reggie up with a kiss so he would never ever say it again.

He must sense how what he said affected her, because he takes one step closer and places his hands on her waist and turns her towards the mirror. And then his touch does it again, changes everything from inside out. His voice drops a little lower, sounding huskier than she remembers. “I remember you saying something like that, once.”

He raises his hands slowly, reaching for the lapels of her jacket to pull it off. Veronica's lips part as her breath catches at his sudden boldness, anticipating the reunion of his skin all over hers.

She turns her head once her shoulders are bare, whispering an inch from his lips. “That's because when I met you, Archie, I saw our whole future.”

She did. From the first minute that they locked eyes in Pop’s, all she could think of was _this boy._ This beautiful, foolish, sweet, sweet boy. The most beautiful face she had ever seen, all soft around the rough edges. She’s aware that she probably didn’t see their whole future like _he_ probably had — a house, two kids, a dog — but she saw the possibility of becoming someone new. Someone better.

As skeptical, hurt, and confused as she was, wanting to be someone deserving of that boy changed everything for her. _In her_.

Her gaze zeroes in on his cut lips but as soon as she feels the weight of his eyes on her, she looks up.

It’s one of the most intimate moments of Veronica’s life, as he softly places his lips to hers, but only for a few seconds before moving to her temple then her jaw and down the column of her neck, all while hugging her to him closely.

The kisses are soft on her skin, but a fire starts coursing through her veins.

Archie's lips leave her body, as he starts undoing her gown, one grueling button at a time. He’s familiar with all of this now -- with lace and complicated buttons and invisible zippers, and with intricate lingerie she knows she isn’t wearing at the moment. Every unfastened button gets her heart beating faster, racing inside her chest.

He finally reaches the bottom one and brings his hands back up to push the thin straps over the points of her shoulders, an even slower tempo that doesn’t match what’s going on inside of her.

The dress falls slowly, exposing her bare chest and simple black panties. There’s dirt on her collarbones, and her skin is covered with goosebumps. Veronica senses his breath hitching as he sweeps her hair to the side and places one more gentle kiss at the base of her neck, both of his hands falling to her hips. She feels his nose pressed to the bone behind her ear, closes her eyes when she feels him breathing in deeply.

Archie squeezes her hips and makes her turn around. Veronica looks up, meeting his eyes as he stares down at her intently. She knows what he’s thinking from the way his eyes have darkened and the way his chest is rising up and down, faster with every breath he takes. All she can do is start undressing him, eyes never leaving his as she slowly starts her descent down the buttons of his bloodstained dress shirt.

She unfastens them and relishes in the growing hunger in his eyes. It’s something she hasn’t seen in months, and right now the glowing amber makes her feel euphoric.

He shrugs off the shirt as she pushes it down his arms, running feather-light fingers over the faded bear claw that scarred him. It prompts her to tear her eyes from his, raking her gaze over the angry mark.

Veronica studies the rest of his naked torso, something that’s become familiar again in the last few weeks of watching him at El Royale. But now, she can reach out and feel him again. She doesn’t need to feel guilty for wanting to do so.

She gingerly touches the firm muscles in his chest, not missing the other scars and bruises, careful not to hurt him.

Veronica feels heavy with sadness, thinking of her Archiekins being hurt. He’s been through the ringer this year, and even though it wasn’t her fault, _it was her fault_. He ran and fought, came back and tried.

Now, her father is gone, but all the marks of his turpitude are still on Archie’s skin. She only wants to make it go away and make up for their lost time apart, but there are tears welling up in her eyes, now.

Almost instinctively, Archie rubs the pad of his thumb over the first one that falls. “Ronnie,” he breathes out, bringing her focus back to his face.

She doesn’t have anything to say, just brings her lips back up to his and gently kisses him. Archie breathes out against her mouth and then parts his slightly, sliding his tongue against hers. The first touch of his tongue makes her whimper, makes another tear fall from her eyes. Archie kisses her harder, holding her face in his hands as she starts unbuckling his belt. Pulling it through the loops, she tosses it somewhere behind her and goes right for the top of his pants.

He maneuvers them down his legs, leaving him in only his boxers.

They stand there for a moment, not touching, just looking. Admiring each other and every inch of their exposed skin.

They kiss softly again, but they stumble as they shimmy out of their underwear, still trying to maintain contact as their teeth meet in soft laughter.

Archie reaches out, curling one hand around her waist and the other to cradle her jaw to steady themselves, and kisses her with more passion than she’s felt in months.

She responds to his rhythm and blindly walks them into her en suite.

He moves both hands to her hips and tightens his grip on her flesh. Veronica feels her lower abdomen tighten, and the faintest of moans leaves her lips. It awakens _something else_ inside him she hasn’t seen in far too long.

Veronica opens the glass door of her shower and pushes him inside, never detaching her lips from his. Archie extends a long arm behind her to turn the water on to the warmest setting, as if no time has passed.

She guides him directly under the faucet as she grabs an expensive bar of soap to clean off the traces of last night’s events, dirt and dried blood going down the drain. She runs the lather down his arms, to his chest, lower on his abdomen. Archie’s arousal is present and twitching, and he closes his eyes when she washes around his crotch and his inner thighs, avoiding the place she really wants to touch. She knows it’ll only be a matter of minutes before one of them snaps.

Once he’s clean, breathing heavily, he takes the bar soap from her and does the same.

As he caresses every curve of her body, she feels treasured. He runs his calloused hands on her arms and shoulders, takes his sweet time with his thumbs flicking over her nipples, making her hold the air in her lungs. She thinks she could come just like this, with his hands on her chest and the fact that _it’s him_ eliciting that something inside her. That this is _real._ She’s not pretending to feel the real thing; she’s not trying with all her might to feel something. She just _is._

Feeling something. Feeling love.

She reaches for another product on her built-in shelving.

Veronica opens the bottle of shampoo, dispenses a dollop and starts rubbing it into his scalp. He heaves out a breath of content, as she lovingly rubs his head, something that has always soothed him.

They make their way directly under the shower head and rinse themselves clean, arms entwined. Like magnets, their lips find each other again, mouths opening as the mood becomes more intense. More desperate than it was.

Veronica kisses up the length of his neck, gently nipping as she goes. Archie groans, pressing his erection to her stomach as she swipes her tongue along his neck, high on the taste of him. She’s been without it for too long.

“I love you,” she breathes, overwhelmed with the feeling of being back here with him.

He tightens his hold and tips her chin up, to meet his gaze. She’s met with the same smile from under that tree, soft and longing all at once, and those dimples of his.

“Ronnie…” he murmurs, running his thumb over her bottom lip, the warm water creating a cascade of crystals around them. “Will you say that again?”

His face is so hopeful, his eyes _shining_ with love.

And although she wants to chuckle and tease him, like she would any other day before things got so fucking complicated, she can’t help but acquiesce. She cups his strong jaw and speaks clearly when she tells him again.

“I love you.” She rubs his cheekbones with her thumbs. To be honest, she thinks she loves him so much that she doesn’t know anymore where he ends and where she begins. She loves him so much that it overcame all the fears of love she’s ever had, and that was perhaps the biggest fear of them all.

He broke her heart, and she broke his back, just the same. But there they were again, handing all those pieces back to each other, trying to blend them as one again. She feels scared. She feels safe, and _oh._ How much she loves him. “Archie, I love y--”

His face breaks into the most beautiful smile as his eyes roam her face. He holds her neck as he kisses her again, no longer holding back. 

Her thumbs rub over his ears, feeling him smile against her mouth. She feels like they’re really reuniting now, craving this intimacy that she could never have with another. That she wouldn’t even dare _try_ to have with another.

They’ve done this before, so many times, and routinely, he crouches down to wrap his palms around the backs of her thighs as she jumps into his arms.

She kisses him with an open mouth, pouring every single emotion from the past few months.

As they pick up the pace, he wastes no time in pressing her up against the marble to hold her in place. She runs her hands through his hair, pulling a little harder like she used to, as she guides his lips back to hers.

He pins her hips with his and uses his left hand to grab onto the flesh of her ass.

He grinds himself against her, and Veronica moans against his lips, louder this time. Archie moans too, to the feeling and the sound, reaching down to touch her clit until she’s wet enough so he can slip two fingers into her.

Instinctively bucking her hips against him, she’s unable to keep herself in control. No one has ever touched her like Archie, and she’s been starved of it, of him, unsure if this would ever happen again.

He stares into her eyes, conveying a million things.

She breaks eye contact as he quickens his pace, rolling her eyes back as she succumbs to the pure pleasure. How many times she's thought about him while doing this to herself, or even while with Reggie, whispering Archie’s name in her mind over and over again?

Archie starts placing sloppy kisses over her cheeks and down her neck, as he removes his fingers. He adjusts his stance and holds her with both hands. He’s panting as hard as she is, his mouth parted and the water dripping over them, his dick pulsing, pressed against her inner thigh.

She’s missed the way he held her in his strong arms, and she can’t wait any longer as she leans in to kiss him, nibbling on his lower lip, wrapping her hand around his length. She gives him a few pumps, making him hiss, and guides him in slowly, throwing her head back at the feel.

She’s almost embarrassed by her desperation, by the sounds she’s making, but this is what Archie does to her. And it only turns him on more.

He takes over, sinking into her fully and groaning against her neck. She flicks her hips, signaling him to start moving. He does, the slow pace quickly picking up, hitting the right spot every time. Like he always has.

Making his way further down her neck, he starts sucking on the skin across her collarbone, down her sternum and finally landing his lips on her breasts.

His tongue flicks out across her nipple, tortuously lapping it in circles, sucking harshly on the pebbled skin. She cries out when his touch becomes more intense.

“I love you,” he chokes out, raising his face back to hers.

“I love you,” she breathily sighs between moans.

His movements begin to falter, as she feels the wave of her orgasm rising again. And just because he can read her body like nobody else in the world, he places his calloused thumb over her clit as they reach the pinnacle of their pleasure.

 

 

 

 

After a few minutes of lazily kissing under the water, it starts to get cold. Archie reaches out to her heated towel rack and grabs two towels. He wraps her up in a fluffy one, swaddling it securely around her shoulders so she doesn't get cold and plants a kiss on the tip of her nose. 

He wraps the second low around his hips.

They move in sync back to her bedroom, clean bodies and clean slate. They’re exhausted, but they're together again, and it feels better than anything he’s felt the past few months.

He watches her move across her room, getting them ready for bed. It's something he’s done so many times. It's something he wants to do for the rest of his life.

Veronica hangs her towel on its hook, and he just takes in the sight of her naked body, even more beautiful than he remembered. It’s changed too, somehow. She lost some weight that he couldn’t see when her clothes were on, even though he observed and missed her all the time inside his mind. Her collarbones are pointier, now marked with a bruise from his teeth. Her hair is longer than he remembers, black waves almost two palms down her shoulders.

Her breasts, though. Her russet, reddish-brown nipples that he felt between his lips. The smooth line of her stomach, the shape of her hips. The thickness of her thighs and the miles of her golden skin. Archie adores every inch of that skin.

She reaches for a silk robe and combs out her hair. Her eyes meet his in her full-length mirror.

She gives him a look of amusement as he sits on the edge of her bed, covered only by a towel. “What?” He chuckles, feeling himself blush at the rise of her eyebrow.

She moves to the side, bending down and opening her drawer of silk sleepwear. She pulls out two cotton pieces from the bottom. She stands up, walking over to him and sheepishly offers him an old tee shirt and boxers.

_His_ old tee shirt and boxers. The ones she originally stole from him after a day up in his double bed. The ones that she had cleaned and kept here for the numerous nights he spent at the Pembrooke, sneaking out at the crack of dawn, leaving her with _just one more kiss_.

_She kept them._

“You still have these?” he asks in a low, disbelieving tone. His chest is suddenly heavy again.

Her big eyes start shining as she looks down, pretending to inspect her manicure, and he knows she’s feeling vulnerable. Once again, he tips her chin up, gently with his thumb as he brings her face level with his.

“I slept in them for a while after you left,” she confesses. “I would lie awake and pray that wherever you were you could feel my heart. That you could hear me.” Veronica places a hand on his cheek, touching him so gently, as if he could disappear beneath her fingers. “Praying that you would come home to me.”

Glistening twin tear tracks line her cheeks, as he cups her face with both hands now. He can’t bear watching her cry. It’s the most heartbreakingly true thing she’s said since they broke up. _But then she got tired of missing him._

A part of him wants to tell her _his_ heartbreaking truth. How he always thought that they were a loaded gun, ready to explode at any minute -- it would be only a matter of time until Veronica saw him, the real him, the darkness inside him, and that she would eventually leave him anyways. He wants to tell her that he left because he was _scared,_ so scared of dying but also of _hurting_ her if he did, of failing her.

He got tired of missing her, too. He got tired of waking up alone and just _wanting her_ and being unable to have her. He got tired of passing by public phones and not calling her. He got tired of having to look over his shoulder because at _any moment_ he would screw up, and Hiram would either kill him or he’d kill Hiram. Ronnie would be the only collateral damage to that mess.

He got tired of missing her when he saw her with Reggie in the Riverdale High hallways. They never kissed or touched in front of Archie, and technically he didn’t _mind_ because she deserved someone who wouldn’t leave her as he did. But every time he saw them near each other, it was just another reminder of everything he had lost.

He wants to tell her that when that bear aimed to rip out his _heart_ , all he could think of was _“it’s not here. I left it back in Riverdale.”_

But he won’t say any of those things. What good would that bring them, now? Veronica is the love of his life. He doesn’t want to live in the past anymore because he doesn’t think he could ever endure that type of heartbreak again. He can’t afford to for either of their sakes.

This time she holds his face, staring at him with her deep chocolate eyes. The ones that he spent nights dreaming about in the middle of nowhere.

He opens his mouth to say that he’s _sorry_ , because being so fucking sorry is all that he has left. But when she shakes her head, he knows she’s waving off his remorseful thoughts. “You’re here now. You’re with me. And that’s all that matters.”

Her fingers toy with his earlobes, a tender touch he’s missed. Archie nods, feeling his own eyes well up.

“Come here,” he says quietly as he pulls her in close to stand between his legs, setting the clothes on her purple duvet.

She glides her fingers down to his neck and runs them along his shoulders, touching him so gently, making him feel so loved.

Veronica plays with the hairs at the nape of his neck, another touch he treasures, and leans in for a kiss.

He can’t stop himself, his heart and his body reacting to her touch, only wanting her closer again. As close as he can get her. He runs his hands all over her soft skin, running over his favorite parts like muscle memory.

She needs to be closer, too. He can tell by the quickness of the pounce into his lap, straddling him.

Archie lowers his hands, untying the flimsy fabric of her robe. She rubs herself against him, chests aligned. He snakes a hand around to cup her ass, loving the feel of her flesh in his hands. He tangles the other one up into her damp hair, evoking a moan from deep in her throat.

She nudges him with a bit of force, his back landing flat on the bed. He angles her head and starts suckling at her neck. He forgot how amazing it was to have Veronica on top of him.

With her hands on his chest, she pushes off of him and moves down his body.

She tosses her raven hair over her shoulder, eyes locked with his, and she unwraps his towel as she lowers herself to pepper kisses all over his abs. She’s always done this, and it’s always sent chills up his spine.

Her breasts brush against his erection and he groans, ready to touch her again.

Veronica continues moving lower, as she places longer, more sensual kisses along his hips. She bumps his dick with the tip of her tongue, eye contact still intact.

But Archie closes his eyes when she takes him in her mouth, and her kiss-swollen lips feel as incredible as they always had. She bobs her head a few times, teasing him with a little bit more each time. He feels himself tremble as she swallows him whole.

He buries his fingers into her damp hair, looking down to watch her, his stomach quivering. Wet noises fall from her mouth, and he’s about to fucking lose it. He just wants to be inside her again.

He reaches down to pull her up, as he rises to sit with her in his lap. Steering her head to his, their lips meet, and she knows what he needs.

She resituates herself, grinding against him until she’s ready to brace her little hands on his shoulders, meeting his gaze as she sinks onto him. A guttural moan erupts from his throat. She’s so tight and wet clenching around him. _Fuck._

Veronica’s hips start rolling, feeling him deep inside her. His hands curl around her waist, helping her keep this steady pace.

He holds her close and scoots them back on the bed, gently rolling her onto her back. He starts moving again, with deep and slow thrusts.

Her hair fans out across the glossy pillow, as she looks up at him through thick lashes. He can’t stop looking at her, relearning every single detail. Not that he’s ever forgotten.

Archie links his hand with hers and reaches it over her head, wanting her to feel all of him loving her. He lowers his head and meets her lips in a searing kiss, further igniting the heat between them.

He lets go of her hand, retreating to cup her face again, staring into her eyes. He starts picking up the pace as he feels her body start to tremble, needing to watch every moment of pleasure play across her face.

Unable to kiss him with his hand gently keeping her in place, she bites her swollen bottom lip. Like another instinctive action, _he_ wants to nip at that lip.

He tugs on it gently before slipping it between his own.

Veronica’s hand roams up his chest and up the side of his neck, while her other dips down her body to land on her clit. He’s torn between kissing her and watching her, greedily alternating between the two.

Her breathing becomes erratic as her chest starts to heave. There’s a beautiful blush across her chest, another place he wants to focus his attention.

She comes even harder than the first two times, with his mouth suckling at her chest.

He collapses onto her, not yet pulling out, and basks in the sweet sweat of her skin, in the feel of her clenching around him.

Their pulses begin to calm, and he feels soothed by the beat of their synced heartbeats.

 

 

 

 

Veronica lays with Archie cuddled on top of her, a comforting weight like a security blanket. Wrapping her up in a love too good for her to ever deserve. 

She plays with his hair, delighted with the content sigh that leaves his lips. He lifts his head and softly kisses across her chest. He reaches her neck and sucks lightly in the sensitive area that meets her shoulder.

She hitches a leg around his hip and turns them over, reversing their post pleasure positions.

He chuckles, the warm sound reverberating deep into her soul as she strokes a pointed burgundy fingernail up between his pecs. She looks over his face, at all the scars new and old and wants to kiss each one. Wants to go back and keep him safe, soothe him now and help him heal.

She starts to feel drowsy, the events from the last few days finally hitting her, and snuggles in closely to Archie’s chest.

Her cheek feels so warm, finding its favorite home over his heart.

The last thing she recalls are his fingers, gently running through her hair and a tightened embrace.

“I love you, Ronnie,” he breathes out steadily.

She’s never been so happy.

 

 

 

 

He pulls her closer onto his chest, as she nestles against his skin, leaving soft little kisses here and there. 

He feels her start to drift, but he can't bring himself to allow sleep to defeat him just yet, needing a little more time just to look at her. And hold her like this.

“I love you, too, Archie,” she exhales dreamily. 

She loves him. He has waited so long to tell her. And to hear it back. He remembers a time when she couldn't say it back.

Now, It just feels so simple.

Now, he cherishes every single time she does.

He looks to her windows, light blocked by her expensive curtains and thinks there's nowhere he'd rather be.

The world around them is carrying on like any other Sunday, but in the darkness of her room, they're alone in their own world. Just them. A world he's been so homesick for.

He knows when Veronica falls asleep in his arms, picking up on the change in her breathing, and decides maybe he should get some sleep, too.

As he situates his head on the pillows, something shiny catches his eye.

The locket he gave her, hanging on the mirror post of her vanity. He strokes her naked back and smiles.

He gave her his heart long ago. And now he has hers back, though he thinks maybe he's always had it.

He loves Veronica. But that’s not the beginning and the end of it, _no._ He wants to _feel_ Veronica and _breathe_ Veronica, he wants to laugh with her, to have her near, to take her to another dance. He can’t be apart from her again. For all the wounds and the pain, that was the only thing that could ever kill him.

Once again, he finds solace as he buries his nose deep into the softness of her hair and breathes in the scent of her.

And it really does feel like home.

 

 

 

 

_the end_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! 
> 
> This prompt was suggested by the girls in Varchiedale and it had to be delivered. It was a gruelingly long season for our ship but the finale paid off in a beautiful (and much anticipated) reunion. 
> 
> We started exchanging ideas and talking about what we wanted to see in this post finale shot, with expected excitement, before deciding to write it together. 
> 
> We really hope you enjoy it <3 <3 <3
> 
> Title based off Billie Ellish's "When the Party's Over", song at the beginning is Bloc Party's "Signs".
> 
> Shoutout to Nic who, as usual, made this a lot better.


End file.
